Adventure In Ethiopia: Creepy Crawlies

The past few days have been slow work wise but Mannfred and I have managed to still fill our days. We’ve done a small amount of prep work for the conference with editing and sending invitations to the Jimma University Senate. Its the calm before the storm you could say because our NSAC colleagues start arriving today through Saturday and we’ve been given fair warning that they’re bringing suitcases full of work for us in order to prepare for the upcoming conference (conference.phmva.net).

Yesterday a student asked if we would like to attend an entomology lab and since we weren’t busy we figured why not. The entomology lab was very interesting and I now have a much better understanding of the Ethiopian creepy crawlies that I will be avoiding for the next few months. Insects seem to be much larger here and not my friends. I have a little story about these crawly creatures. I have paid close attention to tucking in my mosquito net around my mattress at night but somehow last night it came untucked around the edge and was draping on the ground. A little cockroach decided to use my net as a ladder and I woke up with it crawling on my arm, lesson learned I will ALWAYS check to see that my net is tucked in!

This morning Mannfred and I were enjoying our morning Macchiatos and reading in the Alumni gardens when we were stampeded by a grade four class. There were probably around 30 students and when they saw a faranji their teacher lost control. They filled the gazebo and started asking us questions and were extremely keen to try out their English and giggle away. Too bad we weren’t carrying our cameras. We talked to their teacher and we got his phone number so we will pay them another visit in the coming months. In the Ethiopian culture people take much more time in their greetings and farewells to their friends, a standard handshake, a couple kisses on the cheeks or a few shoulder bumps is the norm (it all depends on how deep your friendship is). As the entire class started leaving, every student wanted to say goodbye and forget personal space, we were mobbed and the kisses and handshakes seemed to never end. Needless to say we had literally drawn the attention of every other person in the gardens.

Later in the day we ventured into town with our new friend Biru. We took our first taxi ride which was amusing since you pile as many people as possible into the van. Town is always much hotter and dustier than campus which feels like a lush oasis in comparison. Biru took us to a nice restaurant in the centre of Jimma and we enjoyed a delicious fish meal and an interesting honey drink. The drink was yellowy orange in colour and looked very fruity but upon tasting it we realized it was pretty much watered down honey. I’ve discovered since living with Mannfred that he has a very big sweet tooth and he took a great liking to the honey drink. Our lunch also came with a nice green salad which I wanted to eat so badly but was very hesitant with the raw veggies. Manny is an interesting guest for meals here since he can spout out many microbiological facts about the possible organisms that could be in our food. This is a situation where I can honestly say ignorance is bliss! Manny however, still took the plunge and ate his veggies where as I avoided temptation after his nice little organism speech. Let’s see how his tummy is acting tomorrow! Hate to say I told you so!

Ciao for now.

Suze

Morning Macchiatos